Is there any "catch" here ????

...when it comes to booking domain names under the OPEN SRS (if i recall correctly, it means the OPEN SHARED REGISTRY SYSTEM.)

I notice some registrars like NameBargain.com, Tucows.com, BulkRegister.com now offering a domain name for around $10 per domain/year and even lesser.

How does Open SRS basically work ?

Learner

There is no catch with registering domains through any of OpenSRS's resellers or OpenSRS itself.

Back in the olden days, NetSol held a total monopoly over domain names. That was until the US Govt. decided it was in the Net's best interest to break the monopoly and empowered ICANN (The Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers) to open up the market and send the costs for domain names soaring downwards.

In turn, ICANN started off by authorising 5 base registrars to begin selling domain names (AOL, MelbourneIT, CORENic, Register.com and France telecom) and in turn, you can register names through any of these registrars or their resellers. Since the monopoly is broken and there are so many registrars selling domain names now, prices for .com/.net/.org names are at an all time low. OpenSRS is just another ICANN-accredited registrar (in addition to the original five).

Long-winded, but that's all the essential details you need. You can look at more info about registrars at http://www.icann.org

(new edit to include all five original registrars)

[Edited by BC on 09-02-2000 at 07:40 AM]

Over the past few days I've spent way too much time at opensrs so have had a chance to read through a lot of their stuff. For the $10 a domain thing resellers 'buy' a membership which gives them a bulk order of domain registrations, which starts at $250 if I remember correctly. I you want to register one or two names it isn't as cheap, but if you were interested in doing domain reg. and little else it would probably be a good deal. Seems to me a reseller selling at $10 a domain is attracting people in the hope to offer them their other services (hosting etc) - I'd have to spend more time looking about though to confirm that. It's a pretty good idea though - look at Dotster etc.

akashik... i think you are talking about TUCOWS.COM, right?

they have this scheme of paying for a slab of 25 domain names in advance at the rate of US $10 per domain/year... which works out to US $250.

But NameBargain.com (a sister concern of Register.com) offers you a domain name/year for the same amount ($9.99 to be exact) and one doesn't have to pay for a slab of 25 domain names in advance !!!

Learner

Ahh ok thanks!

I'll keep an eye out for that one then.. and yes - it was Tucows I was thinking of...

... damn those cows and their freaky staring eyes. I know they're watching me.. laughing at my attempts to get my domain hassles cured... *sob*

I am working with them for almost six months now and they seem to be really good. The wntire concept is beautiful. I never saw a registrar so friendly where the director of business respond tou your personal mail on the same day (even when they are registering thousands of domains a day and getting hundreds of enquiries). I feel at home.

The pricing is quite nice. $250 to start with and then you can pay as you wish to refill your credits. Your wish you pay $100 or $1000 :)

The best part is the ability to modify the client software to your own requirement and good documentation !

Hey dont worry, they wont pay me anything even if you take my name ;) just kidding.

but if you are into serious domain business, you can consider them. However if you are not, you can live without them.

this might me of interest

http://www.addressthis.com
Address this: Domain registration at $15.00 per year includes internic fees. Free Parking as well..

The more I've been looking into my problem the more I begin to see the benefits of what you are saying (from both a reseller and a client point of view).

A general question though, that someone might have an answer for. Has anyone ever had a domain name registered by a third party, then found when you need to alter your domain and wish to be able to do it yourself, they won't release the password that lets you into the opensrs management area? I'm not getting straight answers at the moment so does anyone know if as a opensrs reseller you have a different password for each domain you register, or it a general admin password to ALL accounts? If it's the latter I can understand their lack of response (though saying that WOULD help a great deal towards figuring out where to go with the problem).

Greg Moore
http://www.akashik.net

In OpenSRS as the owner of the domain name you have different user names and passwords for each domain. However you can import your profile and buy more domain names on these profiles in future. So you as a buyer can attach various domain names to your profile.

If some RSP is behaving badly and not releasing the password for your domain name, you can approach OpenSRS compliance department at compliance@opensrs.net

I am sure they will help you and mediate between you and the RSP. btw make sure that there was no terms and condition from the RSP that he would not release the password for X days or this offer is valid only if Y happens etc etc.

I hope your problem would be solved.

Originally posted by akashik
I'm not getting straight answers at the moment so does anyone know if as a opensrs reseller you have a different password for each domain you register, or it a general admin password to ALL accounts?In my experience, with the OpenSRS reseller I've used, the username and password on OpenSRS is the same one I use on the reseller's system. I just sort of stumbled on that by trying it.

So, if the reseller were to disappear you could expect to manage the domain name that way. But recently I made a nameserver change through the OpenSRS interface and not with the reseller's, and after a day or so they changed back. I had to make the change again on the reseller's system.

Anyway, I'm deep in preparations for the OpenSRS "RITE test" so I should have a better understanding for how it works soon!

In OpenSRS does the customer always come back to you after the initial registration or is it just that first time?

Rob,

From what I was given to understand...

In Open SRS, your customer will have to come back to you should he require his domain to be transferred. That is because you (as your customer's RSP) have the access password to the Open SRS for your customer's particular domain name.

I hope I am correct here. Please correct me if I am wrong, guys.

Learner

Originally posted by Learner
In Open SRS, your customer will have to come back to you should he require his domain to be transferred. That is because you (as your customer's RSP) have the access password to the Open SRS for your customer's particular domain name.Unless you give your customer the password and username for the domain. In that case the customer could go directly to OpenSRS to make changes.

To be honest, it seems as though a fair number of OpenSRS registrars are a bit in the dark about this as well. I have seen posts about the subject as to how renewals work.

Generally, I think most people have the passwords and usernames for their domains, unless there is another password that I am not familiar with? I wonder what the procedure is to transfer a domain (so to speak) from one OpenSRS registrar to another. Esentially you aren't really transfering the domain, since it is Tucows no matter what. Seems to be just a case of who's units you are used to renew the domain. I am not sure Tucows cares all that much about this point, but I wonder if and how they make the distinction. You know what I mean? I am not sure I am explaining it correctly or coherently.

Chicken, from the impression I have got, TUCOWS customer service is very good. They reply promply to each and every query and go quite a way out in assisting their customers (read: "RSPs" in this case).

The TUCOWS have a policy that if a particular RSP is known to hassle a customer about domain transfers, TUCOWS themselves look into the matter when they receive complaints such as these.

It may also be possible that TUCOWS has a facility where their RSPs can also register domain names for their customers with individual passwords per domain name... alongwith a master reseller password on top of all these sub-level passwords.

I am not too sure of this, and will confirm it with TUCOWS today and get back to this thread.

Learner